hahaha, oh man! Thank you ARC, for providing this! This is good, this is good! Doom and I, and pretty much everyone, have never known when exactly the Tyranids invaded Pech -- the old Codex Approved kroot fluff mentions that Anghkor Prok was there, meaning we could only date it generally.

And these other dates -- fantastic, fantastic. After how terrible the Burst Cannon piece was, I had been reticent to purchase the this file. But now that I know it's got both Empire and Enclave fluff... ! Thank you again.

Lyi'ot wrote:hahaha, oh man! Thank you ARC, for providing this! This is good, this is good! Doom and I, and pretty much everyone, have never known when exactly the Tyranids invaded Pech -- the old Codex Approved kroot fluff mentions that Anghkor Prok was there, meaning we could only date it generally.

And these other dates -- fantastic, fantastic. After how terrible the Burst Cannon piece was, I had been reticent to purchase the this file. But now that I know it's got both Empire and Enclave fluff... ! Thank you again.

I'm glad I could help, and I don't blame you for being reluctant to buy these small GW Digital products—I still am . There is a bit more to the lore as well, but nothing as major as the paragraph or so writeup for each timeline event.

Here's hoping that dating the Tyranid invasion so close to the present means that we see a return of Anghkor Prok (sadly the full write up doesn't mention him). If he is around in the present, I'd have to wonder what the lifespan for Kroot are.

The last time it was mentioned was the Inquisitor rules for Khibala Yusra, a Kroot mercenary who participated in the battle as a former leader of his kindred, now roving the stars hunting the monsters as part of an Inquisitor's retinue.

999.M41 seems a bit soon, though, and presents an odd disparity with Gorgon's appearance on the timeline.

ARC'Thunder wrote:I would like to mention that I grow tired of GW writing that the S8 HRR is capable of shooting completely through tanks or can "punch through one side of an Ork Stompa and out of the other." At this point it's almost like they're trying to twist the knife and laugh .

Here is some fluff from the Ork Codex. This takes place sometime during the War of the Dakka, but exactly when is never specified. Also, I lack page numbers in my digital copy, so I can't really provide them.

Ork Codex: Blood Axes - Da Big Raid wrote:The Blood Axes of Waaagh! Grog tell a story about the greatest Kommando attack ever, known as Da Big Raid. It happened on the world of Vor’sanar, when Waaagh! Grog smashed into the edges of the Tau Empire. Freebooter raids on the Tau planet had been previously repulsed by a huge alien warship with more dakka than anything in the Ork fleet. Called the Korst’la by the Tau and Da Big Dakkaship by the Orks, it stalked the space lanes around Vor’sanar, annihilating anything that trespassed on the Tau Empire. The Korst’la’s only weakness was that it needed to use the huge orbital docks around Vor’sanar to refuel and rearm. While Grog knocked the heads of his Freebooter Kaptins together, trying to get a large enough fleet together to storm the Tau planet, a mob of Blood Axe Kommandos came up with a more cunning plan. They would attack the orbital docks while the Korst’la was away, wrecking the Tau station, and denying the warship a place to repair itself or rearm. The Kommandos set out in a looted Tau transport ship, using captured codes to approach the Vor’sanar dockyard under the pretence of having been damaged in an Ork raid and seeking safe harbour. The Tau were initially suspicious of the lone vessel limping into their station, but every demand for identification was met with a satisfactory response, and the idea that Orks could undertake such a ruse was unthinkable to the Tau. It was a horrific surprise then when the vacuum seals opened and Ork Kommandos poured out into the station. By the time the Tau had mustered to repel the invaders, the Kommandos had reached the station’s reactors. Smashing them to scrap, they set off a chain reaction, dooming the station and allowing Waaagh! Grog to ransack Vor’sanar and ultimately the entire sector.

Yes, GW wrote it into that giant block of text (at least in the digital version).

Alright, I'm confident that the timeline has 99% of all dated, existent tau fluff. I need to update the final entry on Cytheria to reflect Braden Campbell's short story, and I need to incorporate some fluff from Codex: Militarum Tempestus. (By the Aun, how many codices are out there, now?!)

As always, throw more stuff at me to add. This is only the best tau fluff compilation on the internet because we make it that way.

Lyi'ot wrote:I had updated the timeline with the "War Zone Damocles" entry in Codex: Astra Militarum. However, I have a digital copy of the codex; the hard page number of the timeline entry would be appreciated.

I checked a friend's hardcopy and it's on pg 24 (the "Dark Millennium" timeline itself starts on pg 22).

I'm just noting some missing events and their sources, since I don't have the time right now to type out full entries. 1. Undated - Be'etar Expeditionary Force assembled and sent to Be'etar star system [Apocalypse (4th Edition), pg. 147]2. Undated - Defeat of Waaagh! Skarkill by Nighthunter Stealth Groups [Apocalypse Reload, pg. 47]3. http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Kappa_Mortis_Incident4. Shadowsun's Assault on Voltoris [Imperial Knight Companion, pg. 23-24, War Zone Damocles pg. 18-21, Damocles Apocalypse Anthology from Black Library]5.

913.M41 The Six Hour WarCaptain Severus Agemman demonstrates why he is Captain of the Ultramarines 1st Company when he leads a Strike Force Ultra in the destruction of a substantial Tau garrison in just six hours. In a sublime execution of the teachings within the Codex Astartes, Agemman invades the sun-scorched desert planet of K’ail close to the edge of the Damocles Gulf, where the disputed territories of the Imperium and Tau Empire collide. Though the garrison is well-equipped with battlesuit and armour support, Agemman’s twenty veterans perform a coordinated strike that cripples the Tau’s central defence network. Whilst Stormraven-borne battle-brothers make a series of diversionary attacks on munitions caches around the garrison’s perimeter, Agemman personally leads a teleport assault directly on the Tau command node previously identified by elements of the 10th Company. Thinking they face a much larger force, the surviving Tau retreat into the void rather than be destroyed.

[Warhammer 40,000: Dataslate - Space Marines Strike Force Alpha]6. Closing Years of M41 - War of Dark Relevations between Dark Eldar and Tau. Appears to be the first encounter between the two races, and results in whole Tau colony of Rubikon taken away to the Dark City. [Codex: Dark Eldar (5th Edition), pg. 18-197. Addition War Under the Ocean info exists in [Codex: Space Wolves (5th Edition), pg. 20]8. 5.985.999.M41 has Bork'an spelled wrong (Incorrectly spelled Bor'kan). 9.

806.M41 The Novum DeceptionDuring a so-called mission of peace, a Tau Hunter Cadre launches a pre-emptive strike on the capital city ofNovum Prime, railguns destroying a dozen Vengeance Weapon Batteries before the Imperium is aware of thedeception. In answer, the stronghold Citadel of Judgement opens fire on the aggressors with its macro-cannon,obliterating the Tau, and a third of the city itself, in a dozen apocalyptic shots.

995.M41 At First Unseen A talented demagogue, the Water caste ambassador Por’O Myen O’Res convinces the populace of Lurid IX to join the Tau Empire one speech at a time. Wherever he appears, the ambassador is guarded by several Hunter Cadres from the Fire caste, and the skies above him are patrolled by Air caste pilots at all times. The Raven Guard are given the honour of his execution order, but have barely a dozen warriors with which to accomplish it.

Instead of mounting a direct attack, Shadow Captain Shrike leads a Storm Wing-led strike that bears all the hallmarks of his signature stealth tactics. The gunships fly in close formation through the winding miles of Lurid IX’s graffiti-strewn underways, emerging from a pitch-dark culvert less than half a mile from the Water caste delegation. Myen O’Res is gunned down in mid-speech, the sheer volume of missiles and bullets thundering into his podium overcoming the shield generators intended to protect him. Three squads of Crisis battlesuits soar towards the low-flying Storm Wing Squadron to avenge their fallen ambassador, but they are met in mid-air when Shrike and his jump pack veterans effect an aerial deployment, barrelling into the Tau’s midst with lightning claws flashing. The Raven Guard’s dramatic victory is broadcast by the same pict-thief servitors that the Water caste had intended to use for their own ends, and the world of Lurid is returned to the Imperial fold within the hour.

[Warhammer 40,000: Dataslate - Storm Wing]11. Undated

The Lions of Macragge – Ultramarines 2nd CompanyThe Command Squad of the Ultramarines 2nd Company has been known to reform alongside Chaplain Trajan. During the Hagus Wars, Chaplain Trajan’s squad spearheaded several counter attacks against a potent Tau expansionary force to recover the Sword of Zalthus. The legendary weapon, once wielded by Company Champion Zalthus a century before, had been captured during a devastating sequence of planetary raids. After Captain Sicarius had sustained great injuries from a XV104 Riptide, the Lions of Macragge rallied around Trajan and delivered a blistering strike against the Tau Ethereal leading the force. The Sword of Zalthus stands to this day, engulfed by clouds of incense, safe in the Ultramarines’ Reclusiam.

[Warhammer 40,000: Dataslate - Reclusiam Command Squad]12. Whilst there are no dates I can find, the founding and activity of the Velk'han Sept in the Jericho Reach [Deathwatch RPG series) should be significant enough to warrant an entry somewhere. That's all I have for now.

Ionus, thank you for the amazing, new information! I can't keep up with all of the new releases, so I absolutely appreciate the effort. I'll bring back the undated events post and incorporate a lot of this; there are summaries floating around this website that will make it easier.

The Defeat of Waaagh! Skarkill - DONEIncorporated information from old timeline into a new "Undated Events" addition. I also added a bit about the similarity between the operation of Nighthunter Stealth Groups and Darkstrider's tactics during the Great Wars of Confederation.

Kappa Mortis Incident - IncompleteIt should be pretty easy to create an entry based on that linked Wikia article, though that means I'll be incorporating information from a second-hand source. For shame! Currently planning on dating it to 745.M41, with a footnote explaining my reasoning.

Shadowsun's Assault on Voltoris - IncompleteMan, do we have to include Shadowsun holding the idiot ball? <sigh> I'll put it in the timeline after the assault on Agrellan and before War Zone Damocles.

The Six Hour War - DONEThis was already part of the timeline - yay!

The War of Dark Revelations - DONEI copypasted a summary of the war I previously wrote here. It needs a bit of tweaking to sound like the rest of the timeline, but it'll do for now. I've tentatively dated it to 992.M41, with a footnote explaining that it could really be anytime in the last ten years of the millennium. In fact, that uncertainty was the reason I originally didn't incorporate this war into the timeline... but at this point, we have several entries with imprecise dates and caveated footnotes, so why not add another?

Expand 'War Under The Oceans' - IncompleteAbsolutely fantastic find, thank you! I'll need to sit down and type this out, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Bork'an, Borked - FIXEDThank you again. I apologize for any other typos you might find; I've sent hunter-killer drones through to edit several times, but I keep making mistakes to replace the old.

The Novum Deception - DONEA-a-a-added!

At First Unseen - DONEAlso a-a-a-added!

The Lions of Macragge - DONEAdded under the title "The Hagus Wars." (What the hell, GW?) Given that it features a Riptide, I was confident in dating the wars to 999.M41. Also, while researching this entry, I stumbled across more information in the Reclusiam Command Squad dataslate, on the Nightfire Wars involving the Farsight Enclaves. I added a Nightfire Wars entry to the "Undated Events" section.

Velk'han Sept / Jericho Reach - ???Given how extensive the Jericho Reach material is (and how undated it all is), I'm not 100% about how to handle it. I'm open to suggestions.

Expand 'War Under The Oceans' - IncompleteAbsolutely fantastic find, thank you! I'll need to sit down and type this out, but that shouldn't be a problem.

Lucky for us, Codex: Space Wolves has just been released and contains an entry for this:

Codex: Space Wolves - COMETH THE WOLFTIME wrote:966. M41 The War under the OceanThe Tau Empire, encroaching ever further into Imperial space, mines the bed of the ocean world of Kvariam Alpha. It takes a full decade for the domes and corridors that stretch along the ocean floor to be discovered by an augur probe. With the Imperial Guard unable to engage the Tau forces so far below the sea, the Space Wolves are called in.

Gunnar Red Moon’s Great Company makes planetfall upon Kvariam’s meagre land mass and takes the fight to the Fire Warriors stationed there. Having established a beachhead, Gunnar and his men split off from the main invasion force and launch a massed armoured assault into the depths. They drive deep into the ocean along the sea bed, the adamantium hulls of their Land Raiders proof against the terrible pressures of the ocean.

As the tanks near the alien domes and spires of the Tau cities to disgorge their Terminator-armoured passengers, circular portals in each section fan open and teams of graceful, propeller-tailed battlesuits move to intercept the slowly approaching armoured column. A desperate, silent undersea battle erupts, but despite the bewildering array of sleek torpedo-armed craft brought to war against them the Space Wolves still manage to shatter the domes of the Tau mining operations. The sea around them is choked with corpses before the Tau finally flee.

This is the only Tau-relevant entry I can find within the new codex. If I manage to get to a hobby store this weekend I'll see if I can discover a page number.

Last edited by ARC'Thunder on Aug 09 2014 06:27, edited 1 time in total.

R.D. wrote:I think that's pretty much just a repetition of what's come before (in the Planetstrike book I think).

It's actually a copy of what was printed in the Space Wolves 5th ed codex. However, your comment had me look through the old Planetstrike book and I discovered this:

Planetstrike pg 56 wrote:The War for Kvariam Alpha 966.M41The Space Wolves of the Adeptus Astartes bring War to the waterlogged Tau world of Kvariam Alpha, their Drop Pods plunging deep into the oceans before disgorging their Space Marine passengers. As the land war rages above, a slow but deadly battle is joined between Space Marine and Tau Battlesuits in the depths of Kvariam's sea. Torpedos, prop-bombs and missiles from the Space Wolves Thunderhawk Gunships take a heavy toll on the Hammerhead and Manta gunships that gracefully move through the water to intercept. Hundreds of Tau and Space Marine corpses float to the surface, but the Space Wolves are eventually successful, and make the long walk back to land along the sea bed.

Basically the same war, but some interesting tidbits—like underwater Mantas! I also just noticed the other account has "propeller-tailed battlesuits." Weird? There's also art in the Planetstrike book for this battle (pages 52-53), but I lack a clean digital image and/or a scanner.

A few extras13. Shadowsun's campaign on Diepr-3 [Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru's Line (Novel), by Braden Campbell]14. Undated

On Crastille, during the War of Weeping, a single squad of Ratlings held the narrow bridge over the tumultuous Widowash River for three full days. Six times the Tau attempted to dislodge Manvolio Grand’s Ratling Sharpshooters, and six times they were hurled back by pinpoint fire. Kroot Shapers and Pathfinder Shas’ui tumbled into the river’s surging flow, neat holes blown through eye-sockets and throats. When a pack of Kroot Hounds was loosed across the bridge, the Ratlings put each down with a single shot, the last beast skidding to a halt on its face a good three metres short of Manvolio’s snipers. Eventually, the Tau were forced to commit several Stealth Teams to the fight – against these near-invisible foes, the Ratlings stood little chance. Most of the abhumans were slaughtered before they could flee, but Manvolio and his closest cronies made it back to Imperial lines alive, there to be hailed as heroes for their efforts.

[Codex: Astra Militarum (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 107]15.

In the year 456.M40, an invasion took place on the Imperial planet of Bruttulus. Tau troops launched a surprise attack, taking over the planet's defence laser batteries and shield generators, making it impossible for Imperial reinforcements to reach the planet's surface. As more and more Tau troops arrived, the situation for the beleaguered defenders became very grim indeed.

Colonel Sjeaneus of the 513th Baneblade Linebreaker Company decided that desperate measures were called for. The three massive Baneblade tanks under his command had become separated from the main Imperial army and were located only a few miles from one of the main shield generator stations. Rather than falling back to join up with the rest of the Planetary Defence Force, Sjeaneus decided to launch a desperate counter-attack. If he could break through the Tau lines, there was a slim chance he could reach the shield generator station ad destroy it, allowing Imperial reinforcements to land on the planet. Dawn broke just as the Baneblades stared their attack...

Colonel Sjeaneus's assault caught the Tau unawares, but as more and more Tau troops began to arrive the situation became increasingly desperate. The first casualty was the Empeor's Might, which was immobilised by fire from Tau Hammerhead tanks and then overrun and destroyed by Krootox Riders. The remaining two Baneblades, Victorius and No Respite, were severely damaged but still managed to break through the Tau and reach the shield generator station, which they eventually destroyed. Colonel Sjeaneus was slin in the final stages of the battle, and was awarded a posthumous Honourifica Imperalis for his actions.